Sick Day
by Fiera Sabre
Summary: Shepard gets the flu, and there's nothing Garrus can do about it. Oneshot onesided GarrusxFemShep fluff. ParagonColonistWarHeroFemShep...Read and Review!


**Sick Days**

**By Fiera Sabre**

Disclaimer: I don't anything from the loverly Mass Effect Universe…Nor do I own the characters, or anything else concerning Mass Effect. I'm not making any money off this. Probably I wouldn't make much anyways…

Summary: Shepard gets the flu, and there's nothing Garrus can do about it…

Rating: PG- there's a onesided fluffy bit at the end:D

Pairings: Garrus/FemShep (Onesided) ParagonColonistWarHeroFemShep

Notes: As for the lack of Shepard descriptions, I shall leave it up to your lovely imaginations, so you can put your Shepard in there if you like. I only blurbed my Shep's name cause I needed the awkward almostchainofcommand thing. Oh, sorry if the chars are all OOC…(Not that they GIVE you a Garrus romance in the game…they should've ) And past all that, hope you enjoy, and please Read and Review!

--Fee

**Sick Days:**

"Commander, would you _please_ open your door?" Came Garrus' annoyed query. Commander Shepard had locked herself in her quarters for some unknown reason, and refused to come out, defeating all their ideas at every turn.

"No, Garrus. I'm not coming out for a while." She replied shortly. The truth was, she had some strain of the flu, and though the human part of her crew was mostly inoculated against it, none of the aliens were. And seeing as their immune systems were so different, she didn't want to infect them accidentally and have one die. However, she wasn't quite sure how to pitch this to her crew…She'd become so close with her team members, that if she checked into the infirmary they'd be there thirty seconds later, probably huddle all around her and then they'd all get sick with the flu as well. Shepard had already decided that this would be a minor bout of the virus and it would be over after maybe a day and a half of feeling bad, tops.

Garrus was grasping at straws here. He was determined to at least find out _why_ she had locked herself up. "Is something wrong, Shepard? Are you hurt?"

"No, Garrus, I'm not hurt. I've just begun a self-imposed quarantine. I don't want to get anyone else sick with the flu." Hmm. Well, she figured Kaiden, Garrus, and probably Liara would worry the most. Wrex wouldn't…that would just be weird. And Ashley tended to be reserved around her. Tali _might_ be worried, but the Quarian had some unshakeable faith in Shepard's will to survive, and probably wouldn't think much more of it.

"Shepard, if you're sick, we need to get you to the infirmary, where Dr. Chakwas can take care of you." Garrus tried to reason with Shepard again, wondering what reason she could possibly have to avoid the infirmary when she was sick. "I'm sure the Dr. is more than capable of treating you. It's what she trained for, after all."

Shepard sighed as she dropped her head into her hands. She'd argued with what seemed like half the people on the ship in the past few hours, and it was really starting to wear on her. "Look, Garrus." She said more sharply than she'd originally intended. "I have the flu. It's not something that can be treated by our medicine, which is really funny, when you look at the other advancements we've made in the last century and more. All the good Dr. could possibly do is relieve some of my symptoms and keep me hydrated, which I can do just as well here in my room. If I walk all the way to the infirmary, I'll be spreading the virus through the air, and anyone near me could easily catch it. You're not human; your immune system wouldn't be prepared for something like this."

There was an audible thunk as Garrus' head connected with the metal door. After a moment's pause, he continued. "Shepard, could you describe what this…'flu' does to you?"

"Alright," She said, as brightly as she could muster. Her strength was really being sapped now… "I'll suffer a high fever, chills, weakness, nausea, dizziness, and general disorientation. It's never lasted very long for me, so I'll be right as rain in just a day or so. Probably I'll get a little dehydrated in the process, but that always happens. I promise you, Garrus, I'll live through this." Her tone of voice at then end was mildly teasing, but she knew he was still worried. Humans were still a bit of a puzzle to the rest of the galaxy, and though Garrus was on friendly terms with a good number of humans and seemed eager to learn more about them, he still didn't know everything, especially when it came to human diseases and viruses

Garrus wasn't satisfied, but he knew when to stop. He still wanted a compromise though. "Look, I'll check in on you through the comm. Every three hours, alright? I want to make sure you're ok, Karri…Er, Shepard."

"Eight, Garrus. I need my beauty sleep."

"Four."

"Seven."

"Six?"

"Done."

Wearily, Shepard pulled several blankets around her as she snuggled deeper into bed and fell asleep quickly from the exhaustion that came of being sick.

_Six hours later…_

The tall turian paced agitatedly, waiting for a reply from Shepard. Of course, it was entirely possible that she was asleep and simply hadn't heard him, but his instincts told him otherwise. He called for her over the comm twice, before angrily abandoning the console and jogging down the corridors of the ship to her quarters. He called her name through the door first, and when he got no response he pounded on the door in an attempt to get a response from Shepard.

_Idiot! You shouldn't have just left her there! You knew better! She could be dy-No. Nevermind. C'mon, Shepard…!_

Karri rose to unwelcome conscious thought as her head pounded fiercely. Her mouth felt as dry as cotton, her tongue thick, and her throat swollen and sore, like someone had taken a rasp to it while she slept. She shifted her position on the bed and was gasping for air and shaking badly by the time she was nearly sitting upright. It was then that she realized that the pounding was not limited to her head. Someone was pounding on her door and she heard Garrus call her name.

"Garrus." Shepard tried to say, but was surprised when nothing but a soft croak came out. Sighing, and fighting the dizziness that swept over her, she reached over to her side table and picked up a glass of water she'd poured earlier. The water soothed her mouth and eased her headache to some degree, but couldn't effect a change on her larynx. Realizing her only option of contact (not to mention the added benefit of getting the pounding to stop) was if she opened the door herself, Shepard eased to her feet gingerly, holding onto the edge of the bed for support as she slowly straightened. She took slow, shuffling steps towards the door, and stumbled into the wall after completing her arduous journey of ten feet. It took another long moment for her to focus enough to accurately enter the command code, but she did achieve it eventually.

Garrus had been trying to bypass the code on Shepard's door unsuccessfully for the past five minutes, when it suddenly whooshed open to reveal a haggard Shepard leaning against the wall, her eyes becoming unfocused even as he started towards her.

"Stupid…" He muttered under his breath, berating himself for letting her have her way. He caught her slowly collapsing form and was alarmed at how unresponsive she was. Right now, Garrus wasn't much concerned about whether he would catch what Shepard had, and gently set her weakened body on her bed before hitting the medical emergency panel. He turned back to Shepard to observe her unconscious form, and nervously checked her pulse. It was still there, but weaker than he thought it should be. A moment later, Dr. Chakwas and a couple of marines she'd recruited carefully moved Shepard onto a stretcher and hurried her back to the infirmary.

The Turian couldn't help but imitate a common human gesture, and looked up as he asked nobody in particular, "Why…?"

When he arrived at the infirmary, Shepard was lying on one of the infirmary cots and had an IV hooked up to her arm. Dr. Chakwas looked up from her datapad, and at his querying look filled him in.

"She does just have the flu, Garrus. She'll recover. I believe she simply over exerted herself when she went to let you in, and collapsed from exhaustion. The Commander will probably be in here for another day or two, but I don't foresee any sort of problem with her recovery." With that, the Dr. stalked off to med storage, the door hissing shut behind her.

"Doesn't make it any easier to watch." Garrus murmured, and gently tucked a stray lock of hair behind Shepard's ear. He let his fingers rest softly on her feverish cheek probably longer than was really necessary, and hesitantly bent over her lightly breathing form. He took one last glance about to make sure no one was there, and softly touched his forehead to hers; a gesture of love and respect among Turians. Knowing he probably wouldn't ever have the opportunity to do this again, he inhaled her scent deeply, trying to memorize the different fragrances that were her. Something settled inside him, and for the first time in a long time, he felt happy.

As he settled into chair next to Shepard's bed, he remembered that humans had something called 'sick days' for when they weren't feeling well. And despite Shepard's current predicament, the vexing argument, and the anxious wait, he couldn't help but think she should have them more often.

**A/N:** Ok, now, here's the thing…If you don't review, I shall sic my Wrexy on you!! Hurry, push the little button! I think his chain is breaking…!


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